Grocery store questions

[Susan1234]

HI all,

we will soon be on Bonaire for our second visit. Our first trip was over Easter weekend and the grocery was insane due to a 3 day closure and we had new gear and bla bla bla - needless to say I cant for the life of me remember details about the grocery other than they were out of everything and line were insane.

We have a basic menu of simple meals but could use some info. We stay south of town and hit the warehouse looking grocery/gas station place. I assume its still there?

Questions:

1. Are the food and alcohol prices; higher than the states? kinda steep? or ridiculous and we should be everything that we can fit in our bags?
2. will the grocery have basics (salsa, tortillas, canned tuna, etc.) and fresh fruits and veggies?
3. Is the meat safe or a little scary?

Any info would be helpful! Many thanks!!!

---------- Post added August 25th, 2013 at 11:40 AM ----------

I just found some info on the Van den Tweel. That looks down right nice! Do they have beer and wine?

We live in Missouri and I do consider the prices pretty high in Bonaire. We take our own wine and alcohol because we have specific things we like. We have really good luck finding fruits and vegetables at Van Den Tweel. For can goods, pickles, etc you will need a translator on your phone or ask someone. People in the grocery store are always very nice. I just Google Dutch to english translation. I do it ahead of time to save time on things I know I want, so I don't have to do it in the grocery store. There salsa is very different tasting, b
ut if you're not picky they do you have it. We've never bought tortillas there so I can't help with that. We pack those in our suitcase.

 

[scubadada]

We live in Missouri and I do consider the prices pretty high in Bonaire. We take our own wine and alcohol because we have specific things we like. We have really good luck finding fruits and vegetables at Van Den Tweel. For can goods, pickles, etc you will need a translator on your phone or ask someone. People in the grocery store are always very nice. I just Google Dutch to english translation. I do it ahead of time to save time on things I know I want, so I don't have to do it in the grocery store. There salsa is very different tasting, b
ut if you're not picky they do you have it. We've never bought tortillas there so I can't help with that. We pack those in our suitcase.

@SandyUT was in Bonaire 12 years ago

 

[arew+4]

My two cents, if your adventurous in your eating and drinking don't bring a thing. Yes Beer and Meat are more expensive, but they are bad for you and you should cut back anyway .

The only thing I consider bringing is peanut butter, it's handy, travels well, and can be hard to find.

 

[wgw04024]

Bonaire has plenty of good places to eat, and ample enough food in the grocery stores. Bringing food to Bonaire sounds just beyond crazy...

 

[Martijn]

My two cents, if your adventurous in your eating and drinking don't bring a thing. Yes Beer and Meat are more expensive, but they are bad for you and you should cut back anyway .

The only thing I consider bringing is peanut butter, it's handy, travels well, and can be hard to find.

What?! The amount of different kinds of peanut butter on Bonaire is through the roof !

 

[arew+4]

What?! The amount of different kinds of peanut butter on Bonaire is through the roof !

Pictures? I've seen lots of almond butter, sugared up stabilized "PB", I think cashew butter, maybe even sunflower seed butter, but never "Peanuts and salt" peanut butter.

 

[uncfnp]

Things have changed a bit in Bonaire since this thread was posted. More grocery stores and a bit more variety. Prices are higher than here in rural NC but that is to be expected. Finding specific items can still be challenging and sometimes takes multiple trips to different stores. And sometimes just doing without. So yes, we now bring a fair bit of groceries with us to Bonaire.

We cook almost all our meals. Its just what we do at home and on vacation. We now take quite a few items with us, mostly precooked frozen foods that make meal prep quicker for me, small amounts of foods to avoid bulk purchases (like herbs and spices) and speciality items we don’t want to do without. I hate spending dive time shopping for groceries or lose precious time on the balcony watching the sunset by sitting in a restaurant.

 

[scubadada]

Pictures? I've seen lots of almond butter, sugared up stabilized "PB", I think cashew butter, maybe even sunflower seed butter, but never "Peanuts and salt" peanut butter.

Peanut butter and jam sandwiches are one of our several lunch staples along with tuna sandwiches and Raman soup. We have always found peanut butter at Zhung Kong, our neighborhood grocery, as we stay at Den Laman.

As per @uncfnp, we cook almost all our meals. Occasionally, we will get takeout from Pita Madre or Doner Station. We were fond of Fat Dog, but they moved out of Isidel Beach Park. There are a couple new kiosks in the park we might try on our upcoming visit. Sunset time on the Den Laman balcony is precious.